Bad Samaritan (2018)

Directed by: Dean Devlin | 111 minutes | crime, thriller | Actors: David Tennant, Robert Sheehan, Kerry Condon, Carlito Olivero, Jacqueline Byers, Tracey Heggins, Rob Nagle, Lorraine Bahr, Jacob Resnikoff, David Meyers, Tony Doupe, Lisa Brenner, Sofia Hasmik, Delpaneaux Wills, Hannah Barefoot, Danny Bruno

The film ‘Bad Samaritan’ from director Dean Devlin will go down in the history books as David Tennant’s film regardless of your opinion about it. This actor justifies a viewing of this thriller. The Brit portrays a creepy psychopath in an inimitable way. Unfortunately, too often Tennant’s game is leaned on, which means that this film misses points in a number of areas. Unfortunate.

In ‘Bad Samaritan’ you meet Sean Falco (Robert Sheehan) and Derek Sandoval (Carlitto Olivera). These friends earn a living at a fancy restaurant where they make sure that the cars of the rich guys are neatly parked. As the diners hand over their keys, Sean and Derek take turns to loot their customers’ household effects. A look in the glove box provides useful information such as address details and the like. If these thieves know where these rich people live, they sneak into the houses. Then the duo makes a fatal mistake by breaking into the home of Cale Erendreich (Tennant). Sean discovers that this man has chained a young woman in one of the rooms. Is Sean going to report this to the police or is he going after Cale?

Tennant is the reason to see ‘Bad Samaritan’. With visible pleasure, the Brit portrays a psychopath who is both charming and terrifying. The cat-and-mouse game between this villain and his victims is very exciting, because Cale is very unpredictable. You know he’s dangerous, but you don’t know how far he’ll go. In addition, this man is intelligent and very calculating.

Tennant pulls the film to himself and keeps you glued to the tube when it’s on screen. He gets solid counterplay, but if he is not in the picture, the tension drops. Unfortunately, ‘Bad Samaritan’ has to do with a mediocre and poorly thought-out script, causing the tight tension building to suddenly lose momentum. Suddenly Cale no longer seems to make thoughtful decisions, so the threat disappears. Tennant’s carefully crafted character is reduced to a foaming crook in the final acts.

With a stronger script, this could have been a classic, but now it’s a solid thriller with one great role.